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After a night in Newark, he had to travel to New York in 18 minutes, but shortly after the New Jersey Transit train carrying John Foley and 1,100 other passengers entered the Hudson River tunnel, the lights flickered. as the train could fly tracks.
"There were electric explosions and sparks. People prepared because it was as if the train rolled freely in the tunnel, "said Saturday Mr. Foley, 40, of Manhattan.
Transit officials said the overhead electrical wiring was dislodged around 11:30 pm On Friday, a piece of metal support, connecting the train to the overhead power line, pierced a particular car from the north-east corridor train where Mr. Foley was. About three to four feet of metal protruded in the car.
A few minutes later, a North Coast Coast Line train with 500 passengers traveling from Penn Station, New Jersey struck a metal object suspended in the overhead wiring as it exited the tunnel.
Both trains lost electricity but no casualties were reported, said Jim Smith, spokesman for New Jersey Transit.
Inbound and outbound Penn Station service was suspended for almost nine hours and was not reinstated until 8:45 am on Saturday.
The passengers stated that the episodes had left them shaken by cars filled with smoke and the pungent smell of an electric fire.
"When we saw the sparks and the train started to shake, the first thing that came to my mind was all the Amtrak accidents that happened," Kate said. Brick, 35, director of a non-profit organization that lives in Brooklyn.
Ms. Brick was on the train to Penn Station after attending a football game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
"We dodged the cover because it was really scary," she said.
After the train stopped, Mrs. Brick, who was traveling with Beckie Bintrim, 32, from Brooklyn, inspected the area.
A piece of metal had punctured but not penetrated into the car in which they were. They saw blown windows on some cars. Two cars behind them, a piece of metal perforated the roof of the train.
Ms. Brick said, "It was hard not to think about our luck. If it was rush hour, someone would have stood in the driveway.
Ms. Bintrim added, "This should be a wake-up call, there are serious problems with the transit system."
New Jersey Transit is in a well-documented state of crisis. He suffers from the aging of the tracks and the trains. The century-old tunnel crossed by trains between New York and New Jersey is collapsing and is in desperate need of repair.
Former New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie and New York President Trump sabotaged plans for a new Hudson River tunnel, often referred to as one of the most critical infrastructure projects from the country. .
More recently, New Jersey Transit has experienced delays and cancellations because it has not replaced engineers who have retired or left the agency fairly quickly, officials said.
Amtrak, who owns and operates the tunnels, could not explain what went wrong on Friday. "We do not have a case yet," Amtrak spokeswoman Christina E. Leeds said on Saturday.
Kevin Corbett, Executive Director of New Jersey Transit, said, "We are staying in close contact with Amtrak as part of the ongoing investigation to determine the exact cause of the incident."
Mr. Smith, the spokesman for the agency, said it was clear that catenary cables had been dislodged and that a metal rack had punched the car.
"The reason the wire was dislodged is the subject of an investigation," he said. "It's like it's the first, the chicken or the egg?"
Passengers traveling to Penn Station said the New Jersey Transit staff were communicative, but it took about 90 minutes for a rescue train to arrive.
The cars were without air conditioning after losing power and were filled with more passengers than usual because people had moved from the back of the train to the front for escape the smoky conditions.
A rescue locomotive sent from Newark brought the train to New Jersey, which struck a piece of metal, at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, NB, around 1:45 pm, at which time passengers took the correspondence. Transit officials said a team needed to remove the damaged wire to allow access to the rescue vehicle.
"It was yet another example of the terrible things that happen when you do not mind the transit system," Ms. Brick said. "What are we waiting for? What will it take to fix the system?"
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